by Tim Berry

Where do young companies get money? I ran into this three-minute video over the weekend. It’s a great summary. If you’re not already up to speed on the range of startup options from personal savings to venture capital, just watch this: (Note: Here is the link to the original on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U470xXKfDyE) My thanks to the... Read More »

by Tim Berry

What do venture capitalists and angel investors cite as the common cause of the failures in their portfolios? That’s a great question, which somebody posed in Quora. And as I write this post, it has several really interesting answers. Jason Lemkin, who runs Storm Ventures, has my favorite answer. It’s also the overwhelming favorite of those... Read More »

by Tim Berry

I’m seeing more and more marketing showing up about so-called crowd funding these days. Sorry, but no. Not yet. Reports of crowdfunding in the U.S. are, as of today, just wishful thinking. That is, to be sure, unless you play with definitions. For example, if you call KickStarter crowdfunding, then yes, Kickstarter is a great source... Read More »

by Tim Berry

I see this confusion a lot: People use the terms “venture capital,” “venture capitalist,” and “VC” to apply to any outsider investing in a startup. However, it’s really useful to draw some distinctions in this area, between three important classifications: venture capital, angel investors, and anybody else. Venture capital means big-money investment managed by professional... Read More »

by Tim Berry

by Tim Berry

Yesterday’s Willamette Angel Conference (WAC) 2013 event invested more than $465,000 in four Oregon startups, highlighted by more than $250,000 in Portland-based Sonivate, which has developed a fingertip-mounted ultrasound probe that enables imaging while leaving both hands free to do work with simultaneous tactile feedback. Three other startups got WAC investment at the event: Amorphyx,... Read More »

by Tim Berry

Question: I need $250,000 to get my business started, but from what I see on the web, I’m going to have to give away the business, practically, to get that money from investors. And I don’t want to borrow the money because it’s a startup and I can’t be sure I’ll succeed. My answer: You... Read More »

by Tim Berry

What do investors want? I’ve read more than 100 business plans in the last two months. Entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly predictable on this point. Investors want disruptive. Investors want game changing. But not just saying it. Being able to believe it. Two of every three plans says it. Only a very few make it actually believable.... Read More »

by Tim Berry

This is interesting: what if some crowdfunding sites limit the investing to so-called “accredited investors” as defined by the SEC. I just read David Rose’s take on this at Quora. David mentions two sites, his own gust.com and angelist, that already group accredited investors. Up to now they work as platforms for getting investors together... Read More »

by Tim Berry

I completely agree with Steve King of Small Business Labs, in Is the Venture Capital Industry Broken? He says: The news here isn’t that the VC industry is broken. This has been actively discussed for years. The news is who’s saying it’s broken. Which is, in the flap this month, the Kauffman Foundation. The Kauffman Foundation has long... Read More »

About Me

About Me

I'm chairman and founder of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com (this site). Founder or co-founder of several others, ranging from successful to failure and in-between. I have more info at timberry.com. And you can find me on Wikipedia too.